Lot 51: Hendriks, Frederick. DECIMAL COINAGE: A PLAN FOR ITS IMMEDIATE EXTENSION IN ENGLAND, IN CONNECTION WITH THE INTERNATIONAL COINAGE OF FRANCE AND OTHER COUNTRIES. Bucklersbury, England. 1866.

In this work, it is proposed to give a brief, but, it is hoped, sufficiently succinct, outline of an enquiry into some interesting questions of the day, relating to:- I- International Coinage, II- The present position of the Decimal system. Includes a brief memorandum of the Parliamentary and public history of the progress of decimalization of the pound sterling 1824-1859.

Lot 254: Dye, John S. BANKING HOUSE OF JOHN S. DYE [DELINEATOR LETTER]. New York. 1854, 8vo, 27 x 21cm. folded. Banking House of John S. Dye, No. 2 Maiden Lane – New York, Sept 4, 1854. (signed) E.B. Spinner Esq. Cashier, Dear Sir- I am making up the second number of the Delineator, which will comprise all the Banks of your State-………very respectfully, yours, John S. Dye. On the back side is written: John S. Dye, Esq. Sept 4th 1854, answered Sept 14th 1854 in Dye‘s hand. Also there is the oval blind stamp of John S. Dye, Banker, New York at top left corner.

I invite all E-Sylum readers to browse through my freshly-updated online numismatic literature price list at Numismatic Literature & Coin Auction Catalogs (home.att.net/~numismatics/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html) . Many new items have been added this week. Or, contact me via email at numismatics@att.net

From way down in the Deep South, Greg Lambousy of the Louisiana State Museum informs me that The Center for Louisiana Studies is working on republishing an 1897 guide to the New Orleans Mint entitled, How Money is Coined. The Museum has the only complete copy of which they are aware.

Greg has written an introduction for the reprint that is expected to come out in early February. He is unsure how much it will sell for but suggests those wanting a copy keep an eye on the Center's website: http://cls.louisiana.edu/

The first edition was published back in the 1965/66 era. It was presented as being authored by the editors of Coins magazine, with the contributors being Ed Rochette and Al Varner, along with myself. I served as the coordinator of the project.

By the time the second edition rolled around, I believe we just indicated that it was the work of the Krause Publications editors, as Ed and Al were no longer in the mix. Again, I coordinated the project.

When it came time to generate the third edition, sometime in the early 80s as I recall, I commissioned the late Carl Allenbaugh to completely rewrite the materials.

Then, somewhere along the line I traded the title to Whitman in exchange for the Mexican Coins book by Ted Buttrey and Clyde Hubbard.

There were several printings of the fourth edition presented over the years, with me listed as author and a footnote: “Based on an Original Manuscript by Carl Allenbaugh.”

When the fifth edition was being worked up, I had requested that Whitman again incorporate on the title page an acknowledgment of the contributions that had been provided by Carl, but somewhere along the line my request got misplaced, and when I was reviewing the final pages I missed that fact.

In 1983 the coin collection of the Kings of Hannover was bought by the Deutsche Bank, who now plans to sell it to a coin dealer. The "Niedersächsisches Münzkabinett der Deutschen Bank" is one the most important feudal collections in Germany and one of the 25 most important collections in Europe. It was managed in close cooperation with the "Landesmuseum Hannover"and became one of the important numismatic institutions in Europe. It is well known for its exhibitions and publications. The head of the coin cabinet, Dr. Reiner Cunz, is chairman of the German Numismatic Commission, vice president of the International Committee of Money and Banking Museums ICOMON, board member of the German Numismatic Society, member of the Brunswik Academy of Sciences and other academic societies.

This is truly disturbing news. Several museum collections are currently being sold off on account of the recession and have been in the news recently, stirring much controversy. These decisions are often made by administrators and businessmen who are only concerned about the bottom line and willing to cut things like art collections, academic programs, and research positions.

The sale of this important numismatic collection would be a great loss to numismatic scholarship. It should not be simply be divided up among bidders. I encourage all readers to send letters to those responsible for the decision to sell the collection and to the named German politicians. Dr. Lucia Travaini (Milan/Rome) has a page on her website, http://www.luciatravaini.it/ about the affair (click on 'Appello urgente per la collezione numismatica di Hannover,' which then takes you to a page in English with further links). You can also read her letter online.

introduced myxomatosis to France and thence to Europe by inoculating two rabbit on his estate with virus derived from a type culture collection in Lausanne, an act for which he was reviled by rabbit breeders, furriers and hunters but praised by farmers and foresters.

The article about artist Michael Theise and his Monopoly board painting reminded me of an experience I had many years ago. I was 'volunteered' to help teach a vacation bible school class of preschoolers. Not having been around small children (this was before I was married and had children of my own), I was a bit nervous and, as it turned out, naive about how children perceive the world.

The story to be taught was about the money-changers in the temple, and I came up with the brilliant idea of making foil impressions of real coins and gluing them to the story board along with other scenery pictures. When my turn came to give the lesson, I pulled out the board and pandemonium ensued. All of the kids rushed forward to touch the money, which looked real enough to them. It took half the lesson time to get everyone back to his or her seat.

I suspect the only thing remembered was the 'money', as attractive to four and five year-olds as Theise's 'currency' apparently is to adults.

Someone should retell the story of the SOB Numismatists badge. My vague recollection is that the badge was not originally created for the Society. Rather it came off a wine bottle or a sommelier and was appropriated for the SOB's. This suggests that other examples of the medal exist without engraving. This is one of many stories where I have a vague memory but no source for backing.

I spent most of the month of January in basking in the snow in Ohio and got a little behind in my e-mails. I didn’t take my laptop with me so missed out on a lot of offers from Nigerian bankers and widows who want me to help them get millions out of the country. Oh, well, they will have to learn to live without my help.



As for Jack Veffer and the S.O.B.s:

1. I was the sales manager for his book “My Two Cents Worth” as well as his accountant for Coiners Press. As a matter of fact, I still have the original artwork of the book, as well as the Coiners Press financial records. I also inherited his remainders of the book, which I gave away for club door draws, etc., so only have a few copies left.

2. I gave a few speeches over the years about the S.O.B. Numismatists and had articles published in various Canadian publications. I was invited by Bill Kamb in 2005 to speak at the Ohio State Numismatic Association Convention and chose “Putting the Fun back into the Hobby” as my main topic. One of the things I covered was the S.O.B.’s. I am attaching the summary of the speech I handed out to everyone at the banquet.

3. Also attached is a 3-page summary of the “Jack Veffer Collectibles” that I wrote about in the Ontario Numismatic Association and the Wooden Money bulletins.

4. When Jack went on vacation, I agreed to publish one of the bulletins. Instead of calling it “The Society of Bearded Numismastists, I removed all the hair (beards and top of the head) from his masthead and published “The Society of BALD Numismatists. Because those were the days before computers became popular, I will have to scan it into my computer soon.

5. If any of your readers wish copies of the two articles attached as well as other bulletins that Jack issued, have them contact me at coinman@look.ca and I will be pleased to e-mail them all the articles as I recreate them in my computer.

6. The copyright of his book and articles remain with Coiners Press, of which I am the remaining executive. I intend to reproduce both the book as well as all S.O.B. bulletins on my new website as soon as I have it up and running.

It was decided that only lifetime memberships would be offered. If you had a beard, a life-time membership, including bulletins mailed to you irregularly, would be $2.00. If you did not have a beard and you were a male, associate lifetime membership would also be $2.00. If you were female, associate membership would be $2.02. For the extra 2 cents, female members would be allowed to ‘throw in their 2 cents worth’ at meetings. Since this was in the pre-politically correct days, no one objected to the fact that females had to pay more than their male counterparts.

Sheldon S. Carroll, Grover Criswell, Doug Robins, Yasha Beresiner and Robert Willey were just some of the well-known members who sported beards.

For obvious reasons, there were no female members. Women were awarded Associate Membership...if sponsored by five regular members in good standing. Ingrid Smith, Ruth McQuade and Dora de Pedery- Hunt were just three of the well-known female associate members.

Associate Membership could be awarded to men without beards under one condition. An Associate S.O.B. shall always pick up the tab when having a social drink with an S.O.B. Some of the male Associate Members were Robert Aaron, Alex Munro, William McDonald, Al Bliman, Chuck Moore, John Dewyze, Albert Kasman, Ross Irwin, Guy Lestrade, Abe Rogozinski and John Regitko.

Every cent raised through bribes and other donations was donated to the J. Douglas Ferguson Memorial Foundation, a registered non-profit numismatic organization. Jack just kept paying the bills out of his own pocket. Printing and postage sure added up.

Then Jack got the idea of putting out a 32-page bulletin, complete with heavy cover, folded and stapled. He put a pile of his own money into its creation and distribution. Just as I attempted to publish articles in the ONA Numismatist when I was their editor dealing with numismatics of Ontario, so the S.O.B. Numismatist’s S.O.B.Servations published articles about bearded people. Their “People in the News” covered members with beards. Their numismatic articles were about banknotes that contained famous people that sported beards.

If you are going to make an E-Sylum badge, it should surely contain a nut.

I applaud your proposal to form a club for readers of the E-Sylum. My suggestion - Let's call it the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. If this catches on there might even be interest in publishing a club journal and everything.

Regarding your query in the most recent E-Sylum about "HAS EARLY ARTWORK FOR THE MORGAN DOLLAR BEEN FOUND?", the object in question appears to be a lithographic printing stone. Lithographic stones were typically a very fine-grained limestone (often from Bavaria) onto which a reverse image of the subject to be printed would be transferred using a waxy ink. These were commonly used in the 1800s Additional information on the process of stone lithography can be found at: How Stone Lithography Works (www.howstuffworks.com/stone-lithography.htm)

My guess is that the piece was created by a printer at newspaper or magazine or order to reproduce an image of the coin. This printing technique was in widespread use at the time the Morgan dollars first came out in 1878, so maybe it was someone wishing to illustrate the new coin design in some publication. We'll probably never know for sure.

The large Morgan Dollar item is a lithography stone, used in the printing process. Something this size might have been used for a poster. It would still have crop marks for centering and trim.

It appears to me to be a lithographic stone, and when I showed the image to Dennis Forgue he agreed with me.

The item is almost certainly a lithographic stone. The color, thickness, cracks, etc., all look like a litho stone and not like plaster or anything else. The enlarged image appears to show pretty clearly that the image is engraved into the surface. This was a common method for printing stock certificates, bank documents and the like back in the 19th and early 20th century. If it is a litho stone, it would have nothing to do with the production of the actual coin.

I have never actually seen how one of these engraved stones was used, but I presume it was printed like an etching or engraving on a metal plate in that ink was squeezed into the lines and transferred to wet paper, much the way our paper money is still printed.

While it is difficult to make an assumption based only on a picture, I am pretty sure the "strange object" questioned by Mr. Matzke this week is an old lithographic printing stone. It would have produced a large picture of a Morgan dollar, probably anywhere around 1878-1925. These stones are rather common, although I have never seen one showing a coin in such a large size. Perhaps it was made to print a picture of the Morgan dollar when it was new and novel.

I live in Chicago, and I wonder if any other members have as many problems with mail delivery as I do? I subscribe to a few numismatic publications, and I have a problem with delivery. Every so often, Coin World stops coming. I stopped getting Numismatic News because I had so many problems getting it on time.

I do as much online as I can, but the issues are difficult to read. I tried to get Numismatist online, and I got the odd-numbered pages only. I probably did something wrong! Today the local Post Office called and told me the problem is not with them - they said I should tell Coin World to mail the papers on time. According to Coin World, the paper is mailed every Monday. The nice man from the Post Office said, oh, they can say one thing and do another!

Peru says it is pushing forward with a legal claim in the U.S. seeking $500 million in silver coins plucked from the wreck of a Spanish galleon that sank in 1804. A public decree issued by the Foreign Ministry orders Lima's ambassador in Washington to hire attorneys to try to recover 17 tons of coins. Peru claimed the treasure in U.S. District Court in Florida last year, arguing that the coins were made from Peruvian silver and minted in Lima. Spain's government is also suing Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration for the loot, which was found off Portugal in 2007. Peru was a Spanish colony at the time the ship sank.

I think that a $100 trillion Zimbabwe banknote would be quite a collector's item. Do you know of anyone selling them?

I picked up a 100 billion note from Zimbabwe up at the NYINC show from the Educational Coin Co., for $5. They have it at their website, with quantity discounts. http://www.educationalcoin.com/detail.cfm?idnum=11255&ASSOC=B&showpic=yes

The really big notes of the current, 3rd ZW dollar, are still somewhat pricey, particularly the trillion dollar notes. As far as I can tell, only the 10 trillion note has actually been issued, though notes up through 100 trillion are to be phased in according to Dr. Gono, and photos have been released by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

In the January 25 E-Sylum several questions came up about the current banknotes of Zimbabwe. Between the chaos in Zimbabwe and the general reticence by central banks and their printers to discuss contractual arrangements and technical details, there are many details which are uncertain, however, some details have been documented in the press and more have been subject to what appears to be informed speculation among observers in Harare.

What is clear is that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has a wholly owned subsidiary, Fidelity Printing and Refining Limited. As of July 1, 2008, as Giesecke and Devrient GmbH (G&D) pulled out of Zimbabwe, Newsweek [1] reported that G&D was printing about half the currency and supplying the security paper for the other half, presumably all used at Fidelity Printing, which was at that point running its equipment around the clock.

I've seen little hint as to what equipment Fidelity Printing is using for the locally produced notes. In late July 2008 there were press reports out of South Africa and elsewhere that Jura JSP, an Austrian company, was supplying the Reserve Bank with licensed software for the design of banknotes. [2] The presses themselves appear to be German made, or at least that was the source of the spare parts the staff feared would no longer be available as of July 2008. [3]

The quality of the paper used for all notes printed after the G&D paper ran out has been of lower quality, lacking watermarks and other security devices. To what extent this represents a lack of capability by the new supplier(s) and to what extent the Reserve Bank has simply decided to save money is unknown to me. Back in July 2008 the Reserve Bank announced that they were going to use a local paper supplier, though doubts were expressed given that they were already having trouble meeting current orders [3]. Since then, I've heard speculation that the paper is being imported from China, though my correspondent in Harare was unable to give me leads on documentation on that.

Sometime soon, after more of the latest notes that are supposedly in transit to me actually arrive, I hope to analyze the actual characteristics of the notes. I'll offer my results to the editor. Meanwhile, one of the best sources for an organized listing of all the banknotes is the Wikipedia page. [4]

As for where to buy the $100 trillion notes? That's a bit tricky. There are several sellers on eBay who will happily take your money (quite a lot of it, as a matter of fact, you can purchase a set of the 4 trillion dollar notes for USD 110 right now, and I've heard reports of prices as high as GBP 300), but it's unclear that they'll ever be able to deliver. While the $10, 20, 50, and 100 trillion notes have all been announced, only the $10 trillion was actually released on January 16. On January 29, I confirmed with my source in Harare that the 4 banks he deals with had been given no information on the release of the other 3 notes. Given that on January 29 controls on use of foreign currency were removed [5], it is quite possible that the local currency will completely collapse before more notes are issued.

That said, eBay is the only source I've found for the latest notes. The normal channels for world banknotes really don't move fast enough; one of my favorite "conventional" suppliers is just now able to offer the last of the 2nd dollar notes, and that was many, many zeros ago.

As a parting thought, this quote from Dr. Gono that the Reserve Bank has been running on their home page for some time now may help clarify everything: "I am pleased to report that the invisible forces of destruction have been unmasked marking a turning point chapter when the fraudulent and speculative winds are cast into the inferno of extinction."

Anybody who knows more, do please share!

[1] http://www.newsweek.com/id/144387/output/print
[2] http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/africa/news/article_1419212.php
[3] http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/14/world/fg-money14
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwe_banknotes
[5] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/29/AR2009012900855.html

Welcome to this the first newsletter for the Rhodesia—Zimbabwe banknote collectors group.

The banknote collecting “bug” hit me over 30 years ago when I lived in Rhodesia and took another quantum leap with the advent of the internet in the mid-nineties. Since then I have built up a reasonable collection and database of all the issues, date and signature varieties and so on.

I have started this newsletter after I thought that it would be a good idea to share knowledge about the banknotes and paper currency of this troubled country. I am being asked questions by collectors from all over the world on a regular basis and a newsletter would be a good medium to share that knowledge.

Hopefully the newsletter will become an educational tool for all of us to share.

British officials lowered the Value Added Tax (VAT) last year. This set off a chain reaction. To wit: causing citizens to be required to carry more coins in their pockets, causing more wear to the pockets, causing a glut of pocket repairs by London dry cleaners, causing dry cleaners to complain to the press.

A recent episode of Ghost Whisperer (a program that follows the path of a young woman who sees, talks to, and helps earthbound spirits (the dead) 'go into the light') featured a segment about a dead numismatist. The poor fellow contacted the Ghost Whisperer (named Melinda) because he had died in an accident while using a moving truck, and a rare 1943 copper cent was lost in the confusion.

After Melinda found the coin and returned it to the rightful heir, the departed numismatist's spirit was free to move on.

I found it interesting that this particular coin was part of the story. It's well-known to collectors but probably not so with the general public; this makes me think there must be a collector on the writing staff.

The halfpenny token illustrated below was issued by the Associated Irish Mine Company for payment to their employees who were principally engaged in copper mining activities in the Vale Of Avoca in Southern Ireland. Such commercial tokens were mass-produced during the late eighteenth century by many British companies at a time when there was a shortage in circulation levels of official coin of the realm.